Before former President Donald Trump and his pick for vice president, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, held a campaign rally at St. Cloud State University on July 27, the city put in days of preparations in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service to secure the venue and the candidates’ motorcade route from the airport.

In addition to $63,267 on police and $21,420 on fire department personnel, the city says it spent $60,510 to block off roads leading to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center and $61,878 to reopen a roundabout on University Drive that was set to undergo construction.

Two invoices to the Trump campaign later, the ordeal remains a $208,935 hole in the city’s budget — but those requests for payment might have been misdirected.

St. Cloud City Administrator Matthew Staehling told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS St. Cloud did everything the Secret Service asked it to do to secure the event, but the agency never advised the city on who to bill for its expenditures.

“I don’t care who pays for it as long as we get paid,” Staehling said.

On Sept. 10, the city sent an invoice to the Trump campaign seeking to recoup its costs. When the Oct. 10 deadline for that invoice came and went, the city sent a second notice. Staehling said the invoice has yet to be paid.

When asked by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS if they intended to pay the bill, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign insisted the Secret Service is responsible for these costs.

“We had a roundabout that was under construction,” St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Wednesday. “We had to actually open it up based on Secret Service requests… So that was a change order.”

Kleis says it was an expensive change representing nearly half the amount due to the city.

“You know we had public works for example, snow plow operators on a Saturday in July, we don’t usually have those people working,” Kleis said. “So on a Saturday in July, they would have to block off entrances so the road was secure.”

This dispute comes as the Secret Service has increased its security detail for presidential candidates following two assassination attempts on former President Trump.

A continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown last month added $231 million in funding for the Secret Service — money earmarked specifically for 2024 campaign purposes. But it’s unclear how that money will end up in the coffers of local jurisdictions that lend their support.

Nate Herring, a spokesman for the Secret Service acknowledged that the agency leans on local and state law enforcement to protect candidates but said it “lacks a mechanism to reimburse state and local governments for their support.”

Herring said the agency is in talks with the Biden administration, congressional leadership and the Department of Homeland Security to explore avenues for reimbursing campaign security costs. That may come in the form of grants for local governments and law enforcement agencies.

In the meantime, St. Cloud has a plan if the Trump campaign doesn’t respond to the second bill. “If there’s no response or no payment, we would then send it to the Secret Service,” Kleis says.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, who represents St. Cloud in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, but has not heard back.

We also asked Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign whether it reimburses local governments for security expenses or has received any invoices similar to the one St. Cloud sent the Trump campaign. The Harris campaign has yet to respond.